Ever since the US recognized Venezuela’s wannabe coup leader, pro-government volunteers have been bracing for increasingly likely military intervention, ready to defend the Bolivarian Republic from internal and external enemies.
Founded in 2008 to help Venezuela’s armed forces secure the gains made by former President Hugo Chavez, the leftist citizen’s militias, or ‘colectivos,’ are being regularly portrayed in Western mainstream media as a sinister and nefarious group.
However, with 1.6 million members, or 1-in-20 Venezuelans, the movement is much more than just a part-time paramilitary force and a nationwide citizen militia, Redfish, the subsidiary of RT's video agency Ruptly, has discovered.
“I’ve learned to read and write,” said one member of a colectivo, Yanira Rusa, who is now studying at university. She added that the militias have given Venezuelan women a greater sense of power and autonomy.
Women were scared to defend their nation before. Not anymore...I’m not scared of anything.
“The US doesn’t sleep. At the moment what keeps them awake is Venezuela,” says one militia group leader, Guadalupe Rodriguez, explaining how the US have always wanted to “dominate” Latin America and impose its political will on the continent.
The militia is all of us. It’s the people… It shouldn’t be taboo to say this.
Venezuelans don’t want war, and on Plaza Bolivar in the capital Caracas, tens of thousands have gathered to sign a petition to US President Donald Trump, urging him to pull the ‘military option’ off the table. Unapologetically, she is saying people should always be ready to mobilize, train militarily and be prepared to defend their country, if they want it to maintain its sovereignty.
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Source : RT - Daily news
‘The militia is all of us’: Who are Venezuela’s pro-Maduro ‘colectivos’, so demonized by the West?
‘The militia is all of us’: Who are Venezuela’s pro-Maduro ‘colectivos’, so demonized by the West?
